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samjoc's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
mnichols_2's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Sexual content
kurezan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Butcher’s Crossing is a brutal yet serene Western tale about finding one’s place in the world, man versus nature, the cruelty of man towards themselves, and the copes and lies we tell ourselves and others to live through the day in pursuit of our dreams. It is a cruel and unforgiving novel which reflects nature’s violence and apathy. The slaughter of buffalo and the desperate struggle of men and women to eke out an existence on the frontier and wade through that cruel nature is laid bare in this novel – in broad strokes, a story of twenty-three year old Will Andrews, an ex-Harvard Bostonian who seeks discovery of his own ethereal manliness, only to be both enriched, torn down, destroyed and reborn by his contact with nature and those who thrive in that cruel world. His struggle to find his identity amidst this uncertain world is the heart of the novel. The juxtaposition of businessman McDonald and hunter Miller, a dichotomy of civilized man and the embodiment of a prime hunter-gatherer is fascinating, especially as Andrews bounces back and forth between allures of the comfort of clerical domestic life under McDonald and hardened and primal meaningful life under Miller. There is a thin line separating men who live at the extremes from thriving in the world and falling into insanity. The same could be said for the line separating man and beast in this novel. Miller is at once both an admirable man and an apex predator only at peace with himself when he is at war with the world around him.
Butcher’s Crossing is written with vivid attention to detail and patience. Its scenes slowly reveal themselves through Williams’ powerful environmental descriptions mixed with the actions – never dramatic or passe – of distinctive characters. The characters of Butcher’s Crossing are not quite lovable, but they are fascinating to follow – from the glittery eyed Andrews to the cynical Schneider and the supreme confidence of Miller to the quiet wisdom of Francine and the skeptical weariness of McDonald, there is always someone interesting to hold onto. The novel is both a slowly unveiled tragedy and a distinct study of Andrews and his character growth. One hardly notices that there are barely a handful worth of characters throughout the entire work (others are simply referred to by their job title or a description), but this fact does not take away from the book at all. It is hyper-focused on developing the important characters, while the rest mill about living lives detached from the events of the novel – living their own lives independent of the highs and lows of Andrews journey.
The novel’s title seems to refer to both the primary town and to the transition of the hunting profession and the town’s built up to support them – a “crossing” – to the modern world where such towns and the people that prospered in them faded unrecoverably into the past. It is a period where the buffalo are going extinct through over-hunting and though (and perhaps because of the fact that) hunters have honed their skills to a merciless perfection, the world has moved beyond them. Such is the world of modernity we live in now. Yet, there was a time, not long ago in the great span of history, when people like Miller, Schneider and McDonald thrived, when the buffalo were as dense as black oceans on the plains of America and its hunters and merchants thrived off the bounty of their corpses. That world has been left behind but remains as unforgettable as the rotten carcasses of the millions of dead buffalo littering the landscape, or their ghostly absence in those lands today. In the end, Miller exists as a kind of revenant of a lost age – a man without a place in a world that has moved beyond him, while Andrews follows a similar, uncertain path. Not all journeys of discovery find something pleasant at the end.
Sidenote: In much of the work I was reminded of the manga Kokou no Hitou (the Climber) by Shinichi Sakamoto and its aloof protagonist Mori and his passionate journey of self-discovery and identity mixing with and being symbolized by his literal struggle against the icy, treacherous mountain environments surrounding him. The passions of Miller/Andrews and Mori are complex. None can exactly put to words why they have the feelings or drive that they do, why Mori climbs or Miller and Andrews hunts, but in the process of unraveling this purpose they find their place in the world, even if that means living on the fringes of society. The image of the group of men silently moving through the elements in both stories overlapped frequently in my mind, even though the settings and characters were quite different. I think this speaks to the kind of universality of these kind of stories – that a story set in America in the 1870s can resonate with a story set in Japan in the 2000s.
Anyways, go Bills.
Butcher’s Crossing is written with vivid attention to detail and patience. Its scenes slowly reveal themselves through Williams’ powerful environmental descriptions mixed with the actions – never dramatic or passe – of distinctive characters. The characters of Butcher’s Crossing are not quite lovable, but they are fascinating to follow – from the glittery eyed Andrews to the cynical Schneider and the supreme confidence of Miller to the quiet wisdom of Francine and the skeptical weariness of McDonald, there is always someone interesting to hold onto. The novel is both a slowly unveiled tragedy and a distinct study of Andrews and his character growth. One hardly notices that there are barely a handful worth of characters throughout the entire work (others are simply referred to by their job title or a description), but this fact does not take away from the book at all. It is hyper-focused on developing the important characters, while the rest mill about living lives detached from the events of the novel – living their own lives independent of the highs and lows of Andrews journey.
The novel’s title seems to refer to both the primary town and to the transition of the hunting profession and the town’s built up to support them – a “crossing” – to the modern world where such towns and the people that prospered in them faded unrecoverably into the past. It is a period where the buffalo are going extinct through over-hunting and though (and perhaps because of the fact that) hunters have honed their skills to a merciless perfection, the world has moved beyond them. Such is the world of modernity we live in now. Yet, there was a time, not long ago in the great span of history, when people like Miller, Schneider and McDonald thrived, when the buffalo were as dense as black oceans on the plains of America and its hunters and merchants thrived off the bounty of their corpses. That world has been left behind but remains as unforgettable as the rotten carcasses of the millions of dead buffalo littering the landscape, or their ghostly absence in those lands today. In the end, Miller exists as a kind of revenant of a lost age – a man without a place in a world that has moved beyond him, while Andrews follows a similar, uncertain path. Not all journeys of discovery find something pleasant at the end.
Sidenote: In much of the work I was reminded of the manga Kokou no Hitou (the Climber) by Shinichi Sakamoto and its aloof protagonist Mori and his passionate journey of self-discovery and identity mixing with and being symbolized by his literal struggle against the icy, treacherous mountain environments surrounding him. The passions of Miller/Andrews and Mori are complex. None can exactly put to words why they have the feelings or drive that they do, why Mori climbs or Miller and Andrews hunts, but in the process of unraveling this purpose they find their place in the world, even if that means living on the fringes of society. The image of the group of men silently moving through the elements in both stories overlapped frequently in my mind, even though the settings and characters were quite different. I think this speaks to the kind of universality of these kind of stories – that a story set in America in the 1870s can resonate with a story set in Japan in the 2000s.
Anyways, go Bills.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Animal death, and Blood
fatfrog's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Gun violence, Blood, Animal cruelty, and Death
Moderate: Misogyny and Alcohol
Minor: Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Vomit, Racism, and Racial slurs
klor's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
this happened to my buddy thomas howard one time
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Animal death, and Blood
alexhaydon's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gun violence
lynnenad's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Loved this book even more than Stoner. My word this author can write. Flawless. IMO.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
willbrad23's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
brooklyn1's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. The main character heads west, away from the dirty city, hoping that going on some senseless hunt in the wilderness will give meaning to his life and allow him to "find himself." I didn't rate it 5 stars because part 2 (which is the bulk of the book) seemed to drag and it was a bit difficult to get through, but I'm really glad I stuck with it until the end.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Racism, and Blood